homophonous

Homophonous is an adjective describing words that share the same pronunciation but differ in meaning and often in spelling. The related noun is homophone, denoting one member of a pair of words that sound alike. Homophones arise in many languages and can complicate listening, transcription, and wordplay.

In linguistics, the term describes the relationship between two words such as knight and night, flower and flour, or sea and see. Although the sounds are identical, the spellings and meanings are distinct. By contrast, homographs are words that share spelling but may differ in meaning and sometimes in pronunciation, while the broader term homonym is used variably to cover words that are either homophonic or homographic or both. Usage varies among scholars, leading to distinctions that are not always consistently observed in everyday language.

Etymology: Homophonous comes from Greek homo- meaning “same” and phone meaning “sound.” The term thus reflects the idea of words that sound the same despite differences in meaning or spelling.